I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 56
To provide alternatives to incarceration for youth, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY9, 2023
Ms. J
ACKSONLEEintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To provide alternatives to incarceration for youth, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reforming Alternatives 4
to Incarceration and Sentencing to Establish a Better 5
Path for Youth Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘RAISE Act of 6
2023’’. 7
SEC. 2. SAFETY VALVE FOR NONVIOLENT YOUTH. 8
Section 3553 of title 18, United States Code, is 9
amended by adding at the end the following: 10
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‘‘(h) AUTHORITYTOIMPOSE ASENTENCEBELOW 1
ASTATUTORYMINIMUM FORYOUTH.— 2
‘‘(1) G
ENERAL RULE.—Notwithstanding any 3
provision of law other than this subsection, when 4
sentencing a youth for a nonviolent offense, the 5
court may impose a sentence below a statutory min-6
imum if, after considering the factors set forth in 7
subsection (a), the court finds— 8
‘‘(A) substantial and compelling reasons on 9
the record that, giving due regard to the nature 10
of the crime, the history and characteristics of 11
the youth, and the youth’s chances of successful 12
rehabilitation, the mandatory minimum sen-13
tence would result in substantial injustice to the 14
youth; and 15
‘‘(B) imposition of the mandatory min-16
imum sentence is not necessary for the protec-17
tion of the public. 18
‘‘(2) C
OURT TO GIVE PARTIES NOTICE .—Before 19
imposing a sentence under paragraph (1), the court 20
shall give the parties reasonable notice of the court’s 21
intent to do so and an opportunity to respond. 22
‘‘(3) S
TATEMENT IN WRITING OF FACTORS .— 23
The court shall state, in the written statement of 24
reasons, the factors under subsection (a) that re-25
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quire imposition of a sentence below the statutory 1
minimum. 2
‘‘(4) A
PPEAL RIGHTS NOT LIMITED .—This sub-3
section does not limit any right to appeal that would 4
otherwise exist in its absence. 5
‘‘(5) D
EFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 6
‘‘(A) the term ‘youth’ means an individual 7
who was 21 years of age or younger at the time 8
of the criminal offense for which the individual 9
is being sentenced; and 10
‘‘(B) the term ‘nonviolent offense’ means a 11
Federal criminal offense that is not— 12
‘‘(i) a crime of violence; or 13
‘‘(ii) a sex offense (as that term is de-14
fined in section 111 of the Sex Offender 15
Registration and Notification Act).’’. 16
SEC. 3. EARLY RELEASE AND HOME CONFINEMENT FOR 17
YOUTH. 18
Section 3624 of title 18, United States Code, is 19
amended— 20
(1) in subsection (a), by inserting ‘‘at the early 21
release date provided in subsection (h), if applicable, 22
or otherwise’’ after ‘‘A prisoner shall be released by 23
the Bureau of Prisons’’; 24
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(2) in subsection (c), paragraph (1), by insert-1
ing ‘‘except as provided in paragraph (2)(A)(ii),’’ be-2
fore ‘‘not to exceed 12 months’’; 3
(3) in subsection (c), by amending paragraph 4
(2) to read as follows: 5
‘‘(2) H
OME CONFINEMENT AUTHORITY .— 6
‘‘(A) The authority under this subsection 7
may be used— 8
‘‘(i) to place a prisoner in home con-9
finement for the greater of 10 percent of 10
the term of imprisonment of that prisoner 11
or 1 year; and 12
‘‘(ii) to place a youth prisoner in 13
home confinement for the greater of 25 14
percent of the term of imprisonment of 15
that prisoner or 18 months. 16
‘‘(B) Except as provided in subparagraph 17
(C), placement in a community correction cen-18
ter shall not be used in lieu of home confine-19
ment solely because the prisoner has been diag-20
nosed with a mental illness, mental disorder, or 21
mental health condition. 22
‘‘(C) There shall be a presumption in favor 23
of direct release to home confinement unless the 24
Director of the Bureau of Prisons makes spe-25
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cific findings in writing that the resources pro-1
vided by a community correction center are nec-2
essary for the prisoner to adjust and prepare 3
for the reentry into the community and those 4
resources cannot be provided if the prisoner is 5
in home confinement. 6
‘‘(D) A prisoner placed on home confine-7
ment may not be ordered to pay the cost of 8
electronic monitoring.’’; and 9
(4) by adding at the end the following: 10
‘‘(h) E
ARLYRELEASEELIGIBILITY FORCERTAIN 11
Y
OUTH.— 12
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Bureau of Prisons 13
shall release from confinement, subject to a period 14
of prerelease custody under subsection (c), a youth 15
who has served one half or more of that offender’s 16
term of imprisonment (including any consecutive 17
term or terms of imprisonment) if that youth— 18
‘‘(A) is serving a sentence for a nonviolent 19
offense; and 20
‘‘(B) has not engaged in any violation of 21
institutional disciplinary regulations involving 22
violent conduct in the last 2 years. 23
‘‘(2) D
EFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 24
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‘‘(A) the term ‘youth’ means an individual 1
who was 21 years of age or younger at the time 2
the criminal offense occurred for which the indi-3
vidual is serving a term of imprisonment; and 4
‘‘(B) the term ‘nonviolent offense’ means a 5
Federal criminal offense that is not— 6
‘‘(i) a crime of violence; or 7
‘‘(ii) a sex offense (as that term is de-8
fined in section 111 of the Sex Offender 9
Registration and Notification Act).’’. 10
SEC. 4. SUPERVISED RELEASE CONSIDERATION FOR 11
YOUTH. 12
(a) S
UPERVISEDRELEASE OF YOUTH.—Section 13
3582(c) of title 18, United States Code, is amended— 14
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 15
end; 16
(2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at 17
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 18
(3) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol-19
lowing: 20
‘‘(3) in the case of a youth serving a sentence 21
of incarceration, after the youth (as defined in sec-22
tion 3581) has served at least 20 years, a court, 23
upon motion of the Director of the Bureau of Pris-24
ons, the sentencing court, the youth or the counsel 25
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for the youth, or on its own motion, may reduce the 1
term of imprisonment (and may impose a term of 2
supervised release with or without conditions that 3
does not exceed the unserved portion of the original 4
term of imprisonment), after considering the factors 5
set forth in section 3553(a) to the extent that they 6
are applicable, if— 7
‘‘(A) the court finds on the record that a 8
reduction is warranted based on extraordinary 9
and compelling reasons, including the youth’s 10
rehabilitation efforts, such as participation in 11
counseling, education, work skills training, and 12
prison employment, and mitigating facts relat-13
ing to the life circumstances of the youth at the 14
time of the commission of the offense; and 15
‘‘(B) the Director of the Bureau of Prisons 16
has, on its own or in response to the court, 17
made a determination that the youth is not a 18
danger to the safety of any other person or the 19
community, as provided under section 20
3142(g).’’. 21
(b) L
IFESENTENCE.—Section 3581 of title 18, 22
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 23
following: 24
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‘‘(c) LIFESENTENCE.—In the case of a youth con-1
victed of an offense that carries a sentence of imprison-2
ment for the duration of the defendant’s life, the sen-3
tencing court shall treat the life sentence as discretionary 4
and consider the age of the youth in determining the ap-5
propriate sentence. 6
‘‘(d) D
EFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘youth’ 7
means an individual who was 21 years of age or younger 8
at the time of the commission of the criminal offense for 9
which the individual is being sentenced or is serving a 10
term of imprisonment.’’. 11
SEC. 5. SMARTER PROBATION FOR YOUTH. 12
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 3565 of title 18, United 13
States Code, is amended— 14
(1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘If’’ and in-15
serting ‘‘Except as provided in subsection (d), if’’; 16
and 17
(2) by adding at the end the following: 18
‘‘(d) S
PECIALRULE FORTECHNICALVIOLATIONS.— 19
If the violation of a condition is solely technical, and not 20
a conviction of a criminal offense, then the maximum pun-21
ishment that can be imposed is not more than— 22
‘‘(1) 30 days imprisonment if the violation is 23
the first violation during the defendant’s period of 24
probation; 25
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‘‘(2) 60 days imprisonment if the violation is a 1
second violation during the defendant’s period of 2
probation; or 3
‘‘(3) 90 days imprisonment if the violation is a 4
third or subsequent violation during the defendant’s 5
period of probation.’’. 6
(b) D
IRECTIVE TO THE UNITEDSTATESSEN-7
TENCINGCOMMISSION.—Pursuant to its authority under 8
section 994 of title 28, United States Code, the United 9
States Sentencing Commission shall review and, if appro-10
priate, amend the Federal sentencing guidelines and policy 11
statements applicable to the revocation of probation and 12
supervised release under section 3565 of title 18, United 13
States Code, as amended by this Act. 14
SEC. 6. SPECIALIZED HOUSING AND PROGRAMS FOR 15
YOUTH. 16
Section 4042(a) of title 18, United States Code, is 17
amended by adding at the end the following: 18
‘‘(8) designate correctional facilities or portions 19
of correctional facilities that house youth separate 20
from other offenders and, to the extent possible, 21
minimize contact between youth and other offenders 22
except in rehabilitative, reentry, or similar programs; 23
and 24
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‘‘(9) establish education, skills training, reentry, 1
and mental and emotional health programs specific 2
to the needs of youth.’’. 3
SEC. 7. PILOT PROGRAMS FOR YOUTH. 4
(a) B
UREAU OFPRISONS.—The Director of the Bu-5
reau of Prisons shall establish each of the following pilot 6
programs for 2 years, in at least 10 judicial districts: 7
(1) M
ENTORSHIP FOR YOUTH .—A program to 8
pair incarcerated youth with— 9
(A) formerly incarcerated offenders that 10
have demonstrated a commitment to rehabilita-11
tion, made positive contributions to the commu-12
nity, and expressed a willingness to serve as a 13
mentor in such a capacity; or 14
(B) volunteers from faith-based or commu-15
nity organizations that have relevant experience 16
or expertise and a willingness to serve as a 17
mentor in such a capacity. 18
(2) G
OVERNMENT SERVICE .—A program to 19
equip incarcerated youth with skills for government 20
service and to place incarcerated youth in related in-21
ternships through work release, including placement 22
with the Department of Health and Human Serv-23
ices, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the 24
Department of Justice. 25
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(3) SERVICE TO ABANDONED , RESCUED OR 1
OTHERWISE VULNERABLE ANIMALS .—A program to 2
equip incarcerated youth with the skills to provide 3
training and therapy to animals seized by Federal 4
law enforcement under asset forfeiture authority and 5
to organizations that provide shelter and similar 6
services to abandoned, rescued, or otherwise vulner-7
able animals. 8
(b) A
TTORNEYGENERAL.—The Attorney General 9
shall establish pilot programs in the following areas: 10
(1) D
IVERSION FOR HIGH-RISK YOUTH.—A pro-11
gram that provides youth, who are at high risk to 12
reoffend and who have specialized needs, including 13
substance abuse or gang involvement, an opportunity 14
to avoid criminal conviction through intensive case 15
management and comprehensive community services. 16
(2) D
IVERSION FOR VICTIMIZED YOUTH .—A 17
program for youth that have been the victim of 18
abuse, sex or drug trafficking, or other violent con-19
duct, and for whom the criminal conduct is due in 20
whole or in part to that victimization, that provides 21
such youth with an opportunity to avoid criminal 22
conviction through intensive case management and 23
comprehensive community services. 24
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(3) DIVERSION FOR YOUTH .—A program for 1
youth, who serve as the primary caretaker for a 2
young child or sibling, for an ill or impaired parent 3
or grandparent, or for a dependent and vulnerable 4
individual, that provides such youth with an oppor-5
tunity to avoid criminal conviction through intensive 6
case management and comprehensive community 7
services. 8
(c) R
EPORTINGREQUIREMENT.—Not later than one 9
year after the conclusion of the pilot programs, the Attor-10
ney General shall report to Congress on the results of the 11
pilot programs under this section. Such report shall in-12
clude cost savings, numbers of participants, and informa-13
tion about recidivism rates among participants. 14
SEC. 8. RETROACTIVE EFFECT. 15
This Act and the amendments made by this Act apply 16
with respect to youth without regard to whether they be-17
come involved in the Federal criminal justice system be-18
fore, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 19
SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS. 20
In this Act: 21
(1) Y
OUTH.—The term ‘‘youth’’ means an indi-22
vidual who was 21 years of age or younger at the 23
time of the criminal offense for which the individual 24
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is being prosecuted or serving a term of imprison-1
ment, as the case may be. 2
(2) N
ONVIOLENT OFFENSE .—The term ‘‘non-3
violent offense’’ means a Federal criminal offense 4
that is not— 5
(A) a crime of violence (as that term is de-6
fined in section 16 of title 18, United States 7
Code); or 8
(B) a sex offense (as that term is defined 9
in section 111 of the Sex Offender Registration 10
and Notification Act (42 U.S.C. 16911)). 11
Æ
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